


Miscommunications

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 02:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first Molly is excited that Sherlock agreed to see a movie with her. It's something a normal couple would do. But John reminds her that Sherlock is not a normal man, and one movie almost leads to the end of her relationship with Sherlock. But Sherlock surprises her, just like he always does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miscommunications

**Author's Note:**

> Another answer to a **sherlockmas** prompt at LJ ("Molly/Sherlock, John; 'What is the point of this movie?'"). And, once again, it's one of mine. Yeah, I really liked my prompts this round...

Molly Hooper had known, going into a relationship with Sherlock Holmes, that it would be no ordinary relationship. She knew most of the time it would be an uphill battle. He had changed in the last few years, changed more than she had ever thought possible. The fact he had even agreed to go out on one date, let alone several, had been proof enough. But with coaching on his end from John and support on her end from Mary, she was doing all right with her consulting detective. At least until lately. Lately it had been different, and she wasn’t sure why.

Tonight Sherlock was on a stakeout with Lestrade instead of at dinner with John and Mary like they had planned. Molly wasn’t going to say no to a meal of John’s homemade lasagna and good company, so she had come over without Sherlock. The evening had been well spent, and while Mary had gone off to bed John and Molly were left to clean up.

“We are going to watch a movie tomorrow at the cinema,” Molly said to John as she helped him do the dishes. “I actually convinced him to do something halfway normal.”

John lowered the cup he’d been washing. “That’s a bad idea, Molly.”

“Why?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“Sometimes there would be a movie on the telly when I lived with him. I would try and watch it. And he would complain throughout the entire thing.”

“Really?” Molly said.

John nodded. “Every single movie. Every time.”

Molly sighed. “That was not what I wanted to hear.”

“Well, maybe he’ll behave. I’m just his friend. You’re his…”

“We don’t use the terms boyfriend and girlfriend yet,” she said with a slight shrug. “I don’t know if we ever will. He finds them to be silly.”

“Well, it’s not like you can use husband and wife yet,” John said with a teasing grin. Molly froze, and John frowned. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t even joke about it. The last time I did he went on a forty minute rant about how archaic the institution of marriage was.”

John whistled soundlessly. “I thought he was better.”

“I thought he was too. John, I’m starting to wonder why I’m even attempting a relationship with him.”

“Does he know this?”

“Maybe? I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “He’s always so good at picking up on my insecurities. Always has been, always will be.”

“Are you two having problems?”

“He’s a bit more distant these days. And the marriage rant happened four days ago.”

“I’m sorry. I thought the two of you getting together would help him. And I thought you were making him happy.”

“I thought I was too,” she said with a sigh. “Or at least as happy as Sherlock can be.”

John clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Go to the movie tomorrow. Or better yet, stay at home and watch one. Give him some choices and let him pick something.”

“You think that might work?” she asked hopefully.

“It doesn’t hurt to try. And if you stay at home then no one can kick you out if he becomes intolerable.”

“That is a very good point,” she said with a nod.

“Go ahead and head home. I can take care of this.” John gave her a smile. “Make sure you take the leftovers for Sherlock.”

“I will. Unless I eat it first, of course,” she said with a chuckle. She put her arm around John’s shoulders and squeezed them, then went to the counter and picked up the plastic container with the lasagna in it. She gave John a wave and then left his flat.

Ever since John got married he seemed happier. Molly knew that was probably the main reason he took Sherlock’s return and her own role in the deception so well. And Mary was a good woman. Molly hadn’t had many friends, either as a child or an adult, but Mary was one of her best friends. And now that she and John were expecting their first child they just seemed so much happier. She hoped one day she could have that. She just wasn’t sure she could have it with Sherlock, and that thought depressed her. Most days she pushed it away to the back of her mind, but lately it had stayed on the forefront. And she didn’t like that at all.

\--

“I thought we were going to the cinema,” Sherlock said as Molly pushed him down on the sofa in front of her television.

“I got a good piece of advice from John,” she said, going to her DVDs.

“I suppose he said I complained about everything,” he said sullenly. 

“He did.” She had an eclectic enough taste so she hoped there was _something_ he would like. She pulled out the ones she had thought might be good choices and took them over to him. “Pick one.”

He looked at the four movies she offered. He flipped each case over to read the back, then shook his head and set it down. When he was done with the fourth one he looked at her. “It’s all boring drivel.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “What do you want to watch, then?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I want to watch a film.”

“Sherlock Holmes, you promised!” she snapped. He had opened his mouth to say something but he blinked and shut it, looking at her. Then she hung her head slightly and pinched the bridge of her nose. “All of my DVDs are over there,” she said as she pointed to her left. “Go pick something.”

He got up, gave her a look, and then went to her DVD case. He spent twenty minutes browsing through them, and finally he brought over a movie. She recognized it as a Disney movie, and she raised her eyebrow slightly. “I liked pirates as a child,” he said quietly.

“’Pirates of the Caribbean’ it is, then,” she said, taking the DVD from him. He sat back down on the sofa and she put the movie in and pressed play before sitting down next to him. She liked the entire series, even the fourth one, and hoped they made more. But she wasn’t sure if Sherlock would actually enjoy the movie. She kept stealing glances at him and could tell he wanted to say something. About halfway through the movie she could tell he was seriously annoyed. She grabbed her remote and paused the movie. “Go on. Rant.”

“What?” he asked, looking at her.

“You want to complain. I can see it in your face. You hate this movie.”

“I just don’t think it portrays piracy accurately. And Jack Sparrow is rather annoying. As is Will Turner.”

She shook her head. “I can tell there’s more.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “There is no such thing as cursed treasure. Yes, pirates may have _said_ their treasure was cursed, but that was just so other pirates wouldn’t steal it. The idea that the treasure turns the crew into the walking dead is ludicrous.”

She shook her head. “Yet another thing we won’t do together,” she muttered as she got up and went to the DVD player.

“What was that?” he asked.

“I said, this is just another thing we won’t do together.”

“What is?”

“Watching movies. Or basically doing anything else a normal couple would do.”

“I am not a normal man,” he said.

“Yes. Trust me, I know.” She was glad her back was to him because she was sure she was going to start crying at any moment. She had wanted this to work. She had wanted this relationship to work more than any other she’d had, and it was all falling apart. She felt a tear slip down her face and she fought to keep herself under control. “Go ahead and go home,” she said, her voice shaky.

He was quiet for a moment. “Molly…”

“Please.”

She could hear him get up, and she waited for the sound of her door opening and closing, for him to walk out and for her heart to break. But it didn’t happen. Instead, she felt a hand on each of her shoulders. “I don’t want to go, Molly.”

“You’ve been distant. We fight more than we don’t. You put work before me all the time,” She felt more tears slip and oh God, how she hated this. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. That would just be the icing on the cake when they finally ended it. “Maybe we should just end this because we’re both miserable.”

“No. I…no, I don’t want to. I will work harder at being more normal, I swear.”

“Why?” She turned to look at him. “Why don’t you want to end this? Because I’m miserable and you want to hurt me? Because you think that this is normal? It’s not, Sherlock.”

He was quiet for a moment. They were not a particularly affectionate couple. She had felt euphoria the first time he let her hold his hand in public. But right now he framed her face in his hands. He looked a bit uncomfortable, but he used his thumbs to brush away her tears. This was probably the single most comforting thing he had ever done towards her the entire time they had known each other. “I am sorry. I have been…scared. I don’t want to let you close because I don’t want to lose you. But I just end up pushing you away, don’t I?”

“You’re scared?” she asked, surprised. “Why are you scared?”

“I know I am not a normal man. There are days I think you would be better off if you left me and found someone better suited for you. Someone who would treat you well all the time, who would not hesitate to hold your hand or to kiss you. To find someone…normal. Someone who isn’t me.”

“Oh, you idiot. You colossal _idiot_ ,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else. I want you, even if you aren’t normal. Don’t you see that?”

“I am starting to,” he said, the ghost of a smile on his face. “I promise I will make no further attempts to push you away.”

“Good,” she said, smiling at him.

“Would it be all right if I were to kiss you?” he asked, moving his hands away from her face.

“You don’t have to ask. The answer is always yes.”

“Good,” he replied before leaning in and kissing her. They may have a lot to work out, and hopefully they would never let it get this bad again, but for now she had hope again, and that was the most wonderful thing in the world.


End file.
